The Proposal
by thlove
Summary: Ron has some news for Hermione, and a big question to ask.
1. Chapter 1

~For those of you who have read my other Ron/ Hermione stories, I know this is out of order, but I will almost always write things out of order. At least for which story I post when. I try to keep a timeline going, because I don't want to have a thousand different stories with a bunch of different story lines. It confuses me, and I don't like it, cause I think of them following one path, not many. This is after Hermione's parents Christmas party, _way_ after first glance, (that was like September), and about a week before Trina's wedding. I hope you guys like it!

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*Disclaimer* I do not own Harry Potter.

On May 31, 1999, I woke up in my absolute favorite way. I was on my back, naked, with the most beautiful woman in the world cuddled on top of my chest, naked, her curls spread everywhere, tickling my nose. I wanted to keep quiet, so I could observe her sleeping longer, but the urge to sneeze overcame me. Since I cannot sneeze quietly, Hermione was woken up. She turned her face so her nose was pressed into my chest, and sniffed. I felt myself become... interested. I felt my love smile against me, and I leaned up to kiss her hair.

"Good morning Ron." My love sleepily greeted me, kissing my lips in a close mouthed way.

"Good morning love." I responded, kissing her back, still with a closed mouth, but letting my lips linger longer that she had. Eventually she broke away, pushing her body off of mine, and getting up to shower. I watched her saunter to the door leading to the hallway, where she would be able to get to the bathroom. I had just resigned myself to a sexually frustrated morning, when Hermione looked over her shoulder coyly.

"Aren't you coming, Ronald?" I was out of that bed as quick as possible, chasing my girl to the bathroom, hearing her laughter. Half an hour later, when we emerged, I went to make us breakfast. My lady love watched me with interest, chatting with me about inanities, and picking at and eating blueberries that had been saved from being in the waffle batter. My love knew how to cook, but I had already told her that today was my turn to cook. When breakfast was done and eaten, we lounged in the living room for a bit, Hermione reading the newspaper, me flipping through a work briefing. I hadn't told Hermione quite what it said yet, and I was hoping it wouldn't make her too mad. After just short of an hour, I brought it up.

"Mione?" I asked, using the nickname that was mine, and mine alone for her.

"Yes, love?" She asked not looking up from the book she had picked up when she had finished both the profit, and the muggle paper. I took a moment to watch the woman I loved above all other, and braced myself for the justifiable anger that I knew was going to come from this announcement.

"Love, I have a mission on Monday." She glanced up, surprised. I usually only had hours of notice before a raid. This much notice meant it was more than a raid. I could see the realization in her eyes, with the anger nipping at it's heels.

"What?" She whispered with deathly quiet. Uh oh. It was worse than I thought. She didn't want the Wick's to hear and come running. That did not bode well for me.

"I know, I should have told you-" She cut me off, still talking quietly.

"Damn right you should have told me! How long will you be gone? Where are you going?" She paused for a minute, then seemed to put a few other pieces that I had slipped in over the last six months. "No." She shook her head emphatically.

"Love, it has to be done. They could make a move at any time. Our intel says that they have enough power to kill thousands." I was talking about a cell of dark wizard that we had been gathering intelligence on for the last six months. Hermione got up and started to pace at this point, shaking her head and muttering no, quietly. I just talked over her, knowing that she needed to hear this. "Hermione, Harry will be going too, along with others-"

"So my boyfriend and best friend are going to risk their lives, again, to take down another horrible wizard, almost a year to the day after we defeated Voldemort?" Hermione was hysterical by this point, and I pulled her into my arms, rubbing her back to calm her down. She shuddered in my arms, and I felt tears wet my shirt. I kissed her head and whispered sweet nothings to her. After a few minutes she seemed to get a hold of herself, but one question still seemed to bother her. She tried to voice it several times, failing each time.

"What is it, Mione?" I finally asked.

"What if you don't come back this time?" She whispered to me. I felt my heart break, knowing that she would worry about my safety the entire time I was gone.

"Hermione Jane Granger." My girl pulled back to look me in the eye. "I promise to always come back. I will never, ever leave you again." I kissed her softly, and I knew that now was the right time. I pulled the box I had been carrying around in my pocket for nearly two months. I opened it, showing her the ring that I had had custom made by a specialty wizard jeweler. Not a goblin, of course, but someone who was nearly as good. I sank down to one knee, and held out the ring. "I know I've messed up before, and Merlin knows I'll mess up again," Hermione laughed despite the tears, "but I would be the most grateful man in the world if you would marry me, and let me be your husband." I swallowed and waited for the only one I ever loved to answer.


	2. Chapter 2

*Disclaimer* I do not own Harry Potter.

I looked at Ron, down on one knee, saying the words I had been dreaming about for years. I stared down into his face speechless, and saw that the longer I was silent, the more worried he became. Did he actually think I would refuse him? I lowered myself to the ground next to him and kissed him thoroughly. After a minute we broke apart, and I answered with the only word I would ever consider saying.

"Yes, Ron." He broke out into a relieved grin, and pulled me in for another kiss. "You're a prat, you know." I said when he released me.

"What?" Ron stared at me as if I had grown another head. "Why?"

"You tell me God awful news, then get all sentimental, make me wonderful promises, and propose to me. How am I suppose to be angry at you with after that?" Ron smiles that Weasley grin and jokes.

"You can't." He takes the ring out of the box and puts it on my finger, where I look at it again. It is extremely breathtaking. "I had it made special." Ron told me, looking at it's place on my left hand.

"Not by Goblins?" I ask, worried. We have dealt with enough Goblins that I know that I couldn't in good conscience keep it in our future family after I passed, although I had no intention of ever letting anyone outside our family have it. Ron chuckled knowingly.

"No, by wizards." I sigh in relief. "There's something else about the ring." I look at him, and he smiles, holding the ring up to my face. "The ring? It's enchanted. The diamond in the middle is the place holder for the spell. It keeps it going for as long as the diamond is there." I nod my head in understanding. "The blue sapphires, your month, and the aquamarine stones, my month, have magical properties. See how they're intertwined? It's to signify us together, no matter what. The stones are impossible to get off." I am so touched by the obvious time and effort he put into the ring, that I feel like crying again, this time from joy. I reach up, to kiss him, but he delays me. "One more thing, love. I know you worry about me on my missions, so the enchantment that's being held by the diamond is a safety charm. It lets you know, by heat, how I'm doing. When I'm perfectly healthy, or only minimally injured, like a paper cut or a bruise, you shouldn't feel any change in the ring. When it starts to get to serious injuries, the ring will get hotter."

"How will I know when you are most hurt? Or dead?" I look at him. "Will it hurt me?"

"I would never give you something that would hurt you." He looks a bit affronted that I would suggest it, but moves on. "The hottest it will get is just this side of pain, and the wizard said it would only get like that if I had a life threatening injury." I felt reassured, but had one more question that needed answered.

"What happens if you die?" I whisper to him, worried.

"The ring turns to ice." Ron answered.

"So, as long as I feel heat, no matter how warm, you're still with me?" I checked. He nodded his head. "Okay." I say. I lean up again, and this time, he lets me kiss him. The kiss changes quickly to something more, and my fiancée leaned me back, removing both of our clothes. He kissed his way down my body, and got me ready for him. Soon, he was joined with me, and together we made love. Near the end, when I was shouting out his name, and Ron was growling out mine, I caught sight of his ring on my finger, and it was enough to push me over. Soon after he came, shouting my name. After, we lay together, joined and snuggled.

"I'll always love you Hermione." I smiled. I was so happy.

"And I will always love you Ronald." I kissed him again. All too soon, we got up, showered again, and put on clean clothes. I sat on the bed while Ron packed some essentials into a bag to take. He had revealed that he would be gone for almost a week, and I knew that the small amount of clothes wouldn't cut it. I went into a drawer and pulled out something that had been our lifesaver last year. I gave the small beaded clutch to Ron, and told him to send an owl to the rest of his team, so that all of them would be able to pack the necessities, without it being too much of a burden for everyone. That night we made a simple dinner together, and over dinner decided on a day for the wedding.

"I want to marry you the day I fell in love with you." Ron said to me, heaping more potatoes onto his plate.

"Ron, I don't want to wait until May, again." He gives me a small smile.

"Love, I didn't fall in love with you on the day we first kissed." His grin broadened, apparently remembering. "I fell in love with the bushy haired girl who told me I had dirt on my nose." I blushed, remembering that day well. The day we met, on the train to Hogwarts. It was the day I had fallen for him as well.

"I don't believe you." I teased.

"Hey!" He pulled me into his lap, and I giggled. "I may not have known on that day that it was love that I was feeling, but when I would look back on that day, I knew that you were special." I blushed and went under the spell of his kiss.

"So, September 1?" I ask. He nods in assent. We leave the dishes for now, and head to our room. We make love two more times that night, then fall asleep together, as we had done every night since the first time we had made love, and many nights before that, only we wore clothes then. When morning rolled around, we were reluctant to go. We dressed, Ron's bag packed and wearing street clothes to blend in, me in my robes to attend my classes for the day. Ron and Harry teased me about finishing Hogwarts quickly, just so I could have more school, but I had decided that being a lawyer would be a worthwhile profession. We side-along apparated to the ministry. At the door to the Auror's department, we parted, Ron giving me a kiss.

"I'll see you on Saturday, okay love?" I nodded my head. He lifted my hand and kissed my ring.

"I'll miss you." I felt like crying as I told him this.

"I'll miss you too. By the way, if you don't wanna be alone, you can have Ginny stay over, or stay at Grimmauld place with her." Ron smiled at me. "Harry and I will be thinking about our loves while we're gone, and I might feel better if I knew you had someone who was going through the same stuff as you." He winked at me.

"I was thinking about seeing Ginny a bunch too." I admitted. With one final kiss, Ron entered the department and I headed off to my class, knowing that he was safe and mine forever. I glanced at my ring one more time, then listened to the professor talking about magical law.

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Hey readers! I know it's not the best ending, but I'm (eventually) going to write a story about their week apart on this super dangerous mission. I also know that I rather skimmed over the smut in this chapter. Sorry about that. I just felt kind of like I was intruding on their private moment. Yes, I know that they are fictional characters, but I have odd compulsions. Let me know what you guys think. Did I explain the ring thing well enough? I hope so! Thanks to those of you who read!


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